I got an e-mail that says a post office was forced to take down posters that said "In God We Trust". This is about the third or fourth time I seen this item. That's OK, the story is true.
A few years ago Misses B. started selling Avon. In order to increase her sales she put her name and phone number on brochures and left them various places around town. Including the local post office. The next day we got a phone call from Rodger the post master. He asked Misses B. politely to remove her brochures and reminded her gently that the post office is not a community bulletin board. There is a prohibition against "depositing or posting of handbills, fliers, pamphlets, signs, posters, placards, or other literature (except official postal and other governmental notices and announcements) in interior public areas on postal premises." You cannot go into a post office a post a "lost cat" flier. Or the "Bill of Rights", the "Magna Carta" or your version of the ten commandments. Neither can I. Fair's fair.
Back 2002 a man in Texas had a bunch of posters printed up and framed and distributed to various public buildings including several post offices. The posters were put up in the POs and a postal supervisor ordered them taken down. The story has been circulating on the web since then. Some people seem to think their rights have been violated, their beliefs discriminated against. And because 86% of the people in this country believe in god that gives them more right to display their beliefs in public than those who don't. The United States of America doesn't work that way. Everybody gets the same rights, majority and minority are treated equal.
In the mean time, because of the public outcry, the United States Postal Service has printed up posters with our national motto "In God We Trust" and installed them in all 38,000 post offices nation wide. I didn't get an e-mail about that. Did you? The federal courts have repeatedly ruled that having "In God We Trust" as our national motto is not a violation of the constitution and that it is acceptable to print that on our currency. That wasn't news worthy enough for an e-mail. Every year from the time my son was in kindergarten until the fifth grade I was obligated to attend a "Christmas Program" where religious songs (prayers set to music) were sung. No one wrote that up and sent it round.
But let a public body decide not to open with a prayer and we never hear the end of it. The latest e-mail I got, which I've seen several times, shows marines with their heads bent in prayer. At lest that's what the e-mail says, for all I know they were looking for some one's lost contact. Then it goes on to quote a spokesman, Lucius Traveler, from the ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union) saying that "These are federal employees, on federal property and on federal time. For them to pray is clearly an establishment of religion, and we must nip this in the bud immediately." When inquires were made the ACLU denied any knowledge of a Mr. Traveler. That is just like something the ACLU would do. The e-mail goes on to quote Colonel Jack Fessender, speaking for the Commandant of the Corps saying (cleaned up a bit), "Screw the ACLU." When inquires were made the USMC (United States Marine Corps) denied any knowledge of a Colonel Jack Fessender. That is just like something the USMC would do.
People in this country, school administrators, city and county officials and the general public, are beginning to erroneously believe that "God" is not allowed in public places. So with an excess of caution they rule against the use of the word "god" at school functions or public meetings. And when they do the e-mail goes round with "God-Banned" in real big letters at the top.
Every session of congress opens with a prayer. As has every graduation ceremony I've ever been to. The city council in the small town where I live has voted to spend $800 to post "In God We Trust" in the council chambers, no one has filed suit. In my readings on the web I often see stories where someone has protested the use of the word "god" and was summarily overruled by the powers that be. Those stories don't get forwarded. But made up stories about the ACLU protesting prayer have a half-life of like forever.
This leads to the impression that although those who believe in god are a majority in this country they are powerless against an atheistic minority. If christians want people to believe they have the right to use the word "god" they should spread the stories that show that right being upheld, by the courts, by public officials and by the people themselves. Seize the day!
Somewhere in a darkened room, hunched over a keyboard, with wide eyes reflecting the light of the World Wide Web, a heretic is grinning.
OWL
August 9, 2007
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